Contractors in Fairfax County appear to be feeling the effects of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign to slash federal funding.
Mitre Corporation will lay off 442 employees primarily at its Tysons headquarters campus on June 3, while Reston-based Leidos will eliminate 29 workers based in its Lincolnia office, effective May 30, according to notices that both companies filed this week with the Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement.
For Mitre, the layoffs represent 4.9% of its 9,400-person workforce and will include positions at other locations as well as its headquarters at 7525 Colshire Drive in Scotts Run, the Washington Business Journal reported yesterday (Thursday).
The contractor has a second headquarters in Bedford, Massachusetts, where it was founded by MIT in 1958 to develop an air defense system for detecting Soviet Union missiles.
According to the WBJ, a Mitre spokesperson confirmed that the layoffs were “a result of lost or canceled contracts but declined to provide specifics.”
In a statement to FFXnow that was also provided to the WBJ, Mitre called the layoffs a “difficult decision” undertaken after it assessed its “costs, value, and technical capabilities to ensure we are best positioned to deliver exceptional mission impact to the U.S. government.”
“These actions will ensure MITRE is effectively aligned with present and future challenges related to the health, safety, and security of the nation,” a Mitre spokesperson said. “Our greatest asset is our remarkable people, and any decision that impacts them is taken with great care and consideration.”
Reporting $2.37 billion in revenue, as of December 2023, Mitre provides research and development support to the federal government in fields ranging from defense and national security to health and transportation.
Last year, the nonprofit launched a lab in its Tysons offices for testing artificial intelligence-related technology. It also recently provided feedback to the Trump administration in response to executive orders calling for an AI action plan and increased semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.
However, Mitre hasn’t been exempt from the contracts purge led by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Per an online list, its canceled contracts have included ones with the IRS for “visioning support services,” the Department of Homeland Security for a “Neurodiversity Federal Workforce Initiative,” and the National Institutes of Health for health equity work that apparently conflicted with President Donald Trump’s ban on diversity-related programs.
Leidos has similarly been hit with a range of contract terminations since Trump took office on Jan. 20, including ones dealing with environmental management support at Los Alamos, annual maintenance for NASA, and energy and water “benchmarking” services for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Leidos also had a $1 billion contract with the Social Security Administration that was initially canceled in January but later got amended to reduce its value to $560,000, Washington Technology reported.
The company, which is headquartered at Reston Town Center (1750 Presidents Street) didn’t explicitly cite the loss of contracts as the reason for its impending layoffs, which were previously reported by Virginia Business.
“Due to program changes, we unfortunately are eliminating some positions in Virginia,” a Leidos spokesperson said in a statement. “Our intent is to reassign as many of our colleagues as possible to open positions we have in the state or in Maryland and Washington, D.C.”
The company still lists several job openings at its Lincolnia office (5270 Shawnee Road), including for software engineers, cybersecurity analysts and other, mostly technology-related positions.
While the full repercussions are still materializing, the Trump administration’s attempt to downsize the federal government through mass layoffs, lease cancellations and contract terminations will likely create significant economic challenges for the D.C. region, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond told Virginia lawmakers on Wednesday (April 2).
Fairfax County is home to approximately 79,000 federal workers and thousands more private contractors. According to the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, the federal government had canceled more than 4,000 contracts nationally, including 106 in Northern Virginia, as of Feb. 27.
According to the WBJ, more than a dozen government contractors in the D.C. area have announced layoffs in recent weeks, primarily ones that funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Tysons-based Credence Management Solutions, which had a $800 million contract to support USAID’s global health work, laid off nearly 400 employees by early February, the WBJ reported.
